Alaska Airlines Announces Another Four New Routes

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It was less than a week ago that Alaska Airlines announced four new routes out of California and today the airline is back again with another announcement of new routes that should please travelers based in the Pacific Northwest.

Alaska’s New Pacific Northwest Services

Starting in June, Alaska Airlines will launch new services to Chicago, Austin, Idaho Falls, and Redding from Seattle and Boise as the airline looks to help customers connect to the international services offered by American Airlines (out of Chicago), and as it looks to capitalize on its position as the lead airline out of Boise.

Here’s what Alaska Airlines has planned:

Boise – Chicago O’Hare

From 17 June 2021, Alaska Airlines will operate a daily service between Boise and Chicago O’Hare (ORD) with the airline confirming that it plans to operate this route year-round. At the time of writing, this is what the planned schedule looks like:

AS2199 BOI 10:30 – 14:58 ORD (Daily)
AS2200 ORD 15:40 – 18:28 BOI (Daily)

This route will be operated by Horizon Air’s Embraer 175 jet and what Alaska Airlines refers to as its “three-class cabin” (more info below).

Boise – Austin

From 17 June 2021, Alaska Airlines will operate a daily service between Boise and Austin with the airline confirming that it plans to operate this route year-round. At the time of writing, this is what the planned schedule looks like:

AS2576 BOI 10:30 – 14:40 AUS (Daily)
AS2577 AUS 16:10 – 18:40 BOI (Daily)

This route will be operated by Horizon Air’s Embraer 175 jet and what Alaska Airlines refers to as its “three-class cabin” (more info below).

Seattle – Idaho Falls

From 17 June 2021, Alaska Airlines will operate a daily service between Seattle and Idaho Falls with the airline confirming that it plans to operate this route year-round. At the time of writing, this is what the planned schedule looks like:

AS2018 SEA 17:40 – 20:40 IDA (Daily)
AS2010 IDA 08:10 – 09:10 SEA (Daily)

This route will be operated by Horizon Air’s Q400 turboprop aircraft (more info below).

Seattle – Redding

From 17 June 2021, Alaska Airlines will operate a daily service between Seattle and Redding with the airline confirming that it plans to operate this route year-round. At the time of writing, this is what the planned schedule looks like:

AS2432 SEA 17:40 – 19:25 RDD (Daily)
AS2431 RDD 07:20 – 09:10 SEA (Daily)

This route will be operated by Horizon Air’s Q400 turboprop aircraft (more info below).

The Aircraft

Alaska’s new routes from Boise to Chicago and Austin will be operated as Horizon Air using the Embraer 175 aircraft, a jet aircraft that Alaska Airlines boasts has only window and aisle seating – no middle seats.

The First Class cabin offers seats that are 21″ wide and that offer 37″ of pitch (legroom), the “Premium Class” seats offer a little over 18″ of width and 34″ of pitch, while the standard Economy Class seats offer an impressive 18″ of width but a cramped 30″ of pitch.

Alaska has confirmed that customers on all the new routes out of Boise will be able to enjoy hundreds of movies and TV shows available for viewing on personal devices, free texting (on most flights), and Wi-Fi connectivity (for a fee).

The airline’s new routes from Seattle to Redding and Idaho Falls will be operated as Horizon Air using Q400 turboprop aircraft that come in a single cabin layout (no First Class or Premium Class here).

With the exception of the seats in the exit rows, all the seats in this aircraft offer are just 17″ wide and offer just 31″ of pitch (legroom) and that makes this aircraft cramped. The exit row seats all have their tray tables stowed in the armrest (which reduces seat width slightly) and the seats in row 1 and the seats in row two (on the starboard side) all offer extra legroom.

Bottom Line

Starting in June, Alaska Airlines will offer new year-round services to Chicago O’Hare and Austin out of Boise and new year-round services to Redding and Idaho Falls out of Seattle. These routes are slowly being loaded into the Alaska Airlines booking system and all should be available to book in the next 24 hours.